Dawn Finley

EDUCATION
Master of Architecture, Rice University
Bachelor of Science in Architecture, University of Michigan

Dawn Finley is Dean and McWhorter Endowed Chair of the Auburn University College of Architecture, Design and Construction, a role she began in 2024. Before joining Auburn University, Finley was a Professor of Architecture and the Director of Graduate Studies at Rice University School of Architecture in Houston, Texas, where she was an educator and practitioner for over two decades.

Finley’s research combines design and practice, most notably through her work as a cofounding principal of Interloop—Architecture (IA), a nationally acclaimed practice that specializes in innovative building technologies, material experimentation and inventive forms. Her architectural work, with partner Mark Wamble, ranges from the design of custom furniture and fixtures to private residences, research complexes and cultural institutions. Select clients include the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Washington, DC, and the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. IA’s buildings and designs have been recognized through awards and exhibitions and featured widely in leading industry publications, including Dwell, Architectural Record, Architecture, i-D Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Finley is the author of System of Novelties, a book that combines elements of both monograph and field guide, featuring two decades of design work by her practice, Interloop—Architecture.

Finley’s research also includes Pliable, an experimental workshop that investigates the architectural potentials of textile techniques and processes through small-, medium- and large-scale object making; and BODY-PLUS: Architecture, Design, and Disability, research that investigates design and design education through issues of human disability. This work engages historical and contemporary policies, legislation and practices that aim to expose and redress inequity in the built world.

In 2016, Finley was named one of DesignIntelligence’s Top 25 Most Admired Educators, a national academic teaching award that includes architecture, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture. She received the 2019 AIA Educator Award, conferred by the American Institute of Architects Houston Chapter, and was a Faculty Fellow at Rice University’s Center for Teaching Excellence from 2022 to 2024.